CSM Welcomes First Womens Lacrosse Coach

Recruiting for 2014-15 Inaugural Season Begins with Meet-and-Greet May 22

The College of Southern Maryland is providing women athletes with a strong incentive to start their academic careers at CSM. Womens lacrosse is being added to the colleges list of athletic programs which include: womens cross country, mens lacrosse, men's and womens soccer, mens and womens basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball and golf. On May 22, the college will host an information session for the public to introduce the colleges new womens lacrosse coach, Joyce Arter, and to provide the summer workout schedule for students interested in playing for the inaugural team.

The community stepped up in a big way to support lacrosse and we are excited for the students who will be able to attend CSM and play Division I lacrosse. Student-athletes are some of our most successful students, and the new lacrosse program will attract more full-time student athletes, said CSM Vice President of Advancement Michelle Goodwin.

Strong [lacrosse] programs exist in Calvert and St. Marys county high schools, and now that lacrosse has expanded with Charles County teams moving into SMAC (Southern Maryland Athletic Conference) competition, the natural progression is to provide the opportunity for students to play at the collegiate level while attending community college in Southern Maryland, said CSMs Athletic Director Michelle Ruble. This spring we added mens lacrosse and we will add womens lacrosse next spring.

Arter is womens assistant coach at Northern High School, head coach for the Cyclones of Southern Maryland Club and girls basketball coach at Northern Middle School. Previously, Arter was assistant coach and head coach of girls lacrosse at Calvert High School, and she served as Special Olympics of Calvert County soccer coach. She is a U.S. Lacrosse Certified Coach.

Arter earned a bachelors degree in liberal studies from Longwood University, Farmville, Virginia, a Division I school where she played the attack position for four years.

“We are very excited to have Joyce Arter joining our Athletics team. Joyce will be bringing a great deal of knowledge and passion for this sport to CSM, said CSM Athletics Assistant Director Sarah Williams. Joyce has been coaching for five years and at all different levels ranging from middle, high school and clubs and is now taking a step into the collegiate level. She graduated from Calvert High School where she also played lacrosse. I believe with Joyce being a local to Southern Maryland and having coached at the local high schools she is in a perfect position to recruit new players to the College of Southern Maryland.”

The womens lacrosse information meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. on May 22 in the Francis P. Chiaramonte, MD Center for Science and Technology (ST) Building, Room ST-143 on the La Plata Campus.